Hamas Senior Official Struggles to Deny Atrocities in October 7 Massacre During Interview

In a tense interview with British presenter Piers Morgan, senior Hamas official Aazi Hamad faced sharp criticism over the October 7 massacre carried out by Hamas militants. Morgan confronted Hamad with accusations that Hamas operatives crossed all lines of humanity and morality by killing civilians, abducting infants, and committing war crimes across Israel. Hamad repeatedly denied that Hamas committed crimes against humanity, cynically suggesting that "maybe some mistakes happened," and insisted there were no orders to kill civilians.

Morgan rejected Hamad's denials, citing the killing of innocent civilians, the abduction of over 250 hostages including Holocaust survivors and babies, and the deliberate massacre of hundreds of young people at a music festival. He called Hamas's claims "ridiculous" and emphasized that the atrocities were intentional war crimes. Hamad responded by asserting Hamas never committed crimes, only possibly "mistakes."

Morgan also highlighted that while he criticized Israel's response in Gaza as excessive, this did not absolve Hamas of responsibility for the October 7 attacks. He accused Hamas of barbaric acts and pointed to videos released by Hamas militants themselves documenting the horrors. When Hamad questioned why Morgan labeled Hamas a terrorist organization, Morgan said the answer was clear: the October 7 attacks were terrorist acts involving heinous crimes against the Israeli people.

Toward the interview's end, Morgan pressed Hamad on the justification for taking infants hostage. Hamad claimed Hamas never planned to take civilians hostage and had no orders to do so, but Morgan remained unconvinced. Hamad is one of the Hamas leaders who survived an Israeli assassination attempt in Doha last September and has since appeared publicly in interviews, confirming his survival.

The interview aired on Al Jazeera and highlighted the ongoing international scrutiny of Hamas's actions during the October 7 massacre and the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict.